Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. (KAI), South Korea’s sole aircraft manufacturer, said on Wednesday that it earned the highest level 5 rating of the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), which assesses an organization’s software and system development capabilities.

The CMMI was developed by Carnegie Mellon University upon the request by the United States Department of Defense that now uses it as one of the standards for selecting top software and system developers.

The Korean government has been using the CMMI model as a reference when selecting arms researchers and developers since 2015.

Only about 1,100 companies, or 7 percent, of the world’s 15,000 CMMI-certified firms received the highest level 5, and a handful of aerospace companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin are level 5 certified, said KAI.

The Korean aircraft manufacturer gained level 5 in the avionics segment in 2014 and obtained the highest level in all aircraft development areas including system integration, aviation control, and flight testing this year, according to the Korean aircraft and parts manufacturer.

KAI has excellent development process and engineers, and its management has deep understanding in the aerospace business, said Wayne Littlefield, a senior CMMI examiner.

KAI hopes the latest performance evaluation result, which has proven its excellence in aerospace software development capability, can help it win more international orders and speed up its development of indigenous fighter jets, light armed helicopters and light civil helicopters, an unnamed KAI official said.

Shares of Korea Aerospace Industries finished Wednesday at 50,500 won, down 500 won or 0.98 percent from the previous session.

By Moon Ji-woong and Cho Jeehyun

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